Cabdriver Alex Groysman (left) looks on this week as Brian Kelly of Encinitas loads his bag into the cab. A fee to pay for road maintenance at the airport increased this month. HOWARD LIPIN • u-t

July 2, 2012-SAN DIEGO, CA| Taxi driver Alex Groysman is happy that as of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, the drivers paid the fee. He was cleaning the windshield of his taxi while waiting for customers at the airport. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure. | Howard Lipin /UT San Diego). Mandatory to Credit HOWARD LIPIN/U-T San Diego/ZUMA PRESS, U-T San Diego

July 2, 2012-SAN DIEGO, CA| Taxi driver Alex Groysman is happy that as of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, the drivers paid the fee. He was cleaning the windshield of his taxi while waiting for customers at the airport. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure. | Howard Lipin /UT San Diego). Mandatory to Credit HOWARD LIPIN/U-T San Diego/ZUMA PRESS, U-T San Diego

July 2, 2012-SAN DIEGO, CA| Taxi driver Fere Nazari is happy that as of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, drivers paid the fee. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure. | Howard Lipin /UT San Diego). Mandatory to Credit HOWARD LIPIN/U-T San Diego/ZUMA PRESS, U-T San Diego

July 2, 2012-SAN DIEGO, CA| Taxi driver Fere Nazari is happy that as of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, drivers paid the fee. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure. | Howard Lipin /UT San Diego). Mandatory to Credit HOWARD LIPIN/U-T San Diego/ZUMA PRESS, U-T San Diego

Taxis wait for customers at Lindbergh Field. As of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, drivers paid the fee. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure.

Taxis wait for customers at Lindbergh Field. As of July 1, riders are paying the $1.50 airport trip fee for each taxi leaving Lindbergh Field. Before, drivers paid the fee. The fee is imposed by the airport authority to recover money to maintain the ground transportation infrastructure.

Two years ago, when airport officials imposed a fee on every taxi leaving Lindbergh Field, cabbies were told to point to a window sticker and ask passengers to pay 50 cents more than what the meter showed.

Many travelers were suspicious of the extra charge and declined to pay. Or, they paid and withheld a tip.

Last year, the fee doubled, and many drivers just covered the fee themselves.

This month, the taxi fee jumped to $1.50. For the first time, the fee is being added to the fare box so drivers can more readily collect.

“It saves me an average of $12 to $15 a day, about $100 a week and $400 a month,” said driver James Qargha. “We are really happy about it.”

Airport officials say the fees are needed to pay for ground transportation maintenance. The trip charge will climb to $2 next year.

“Moving the fee to the taxi meter was something the airport authority has been working on for more than two years,” said Katie Jones, spokeswoman for the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. “Taxicab drivers and passengers alike can be assured that the fees collected will go directly into managing the ground transportation infrastructure.”

The airport collected about $670,000 in trip fees in 2011. The fees for this year are expected to surpass $1 million.

Travelers this week did not appear to mind paying their share of maintenance costs, even though regulators concede that cab fares in San Diego are already among the highest in the nation.

“That sounds fine,” said Mike Donohue, a Chicago businessman who was hailing a cab Monday. “I like having great infrastructure at airports, so I don’t mind paying extra. Someone’s got to pay for it.”

Katie Clark, a San Diego dietitian who was waiting for a taxi after returning on a red-eye from Hawaii, said Lindbergh Field is still one of the most convenient airports she has used.

“I don’t really care” about the fees, she said just before hailing a cab, “as long as the security lines don’t get any longer.”

The Metropolitan Transit System, which regulates taxis in San Diego County, added the fees to fare boxes only after the airport agreed to take on any liability from lawsuits challenging the fees.